Not One of Us

Soon after Mobile, Ala., event coordinator Jori Trahan, the resourceful narrator of this unsettling psychological thriller from Herbert (Cold Waters), returns home to Bayou Enigma in Alabama swamp country to care for her cognitively impaired grandmother and autistic brother, Zach, she runs into Ray Strickland, recently released from prison after serving some 20 years for murder, in a bar. Ray’s drunken mumblings (“folks have a way of disappearing ’round here, gator feed”) start Jori on a relentless crusade to solve the unsolved disappearance of her high school sweetheart, Deacon Cormier, and his family 13 years earlier in 2006. Jori has a form of synesthesia that allows her to “hear” colors, and it becomes her secret weapon in discovering what happened the night the Cormiers went missing. Jori’s snooping reveals family secrets best left unspoken, and also draws the attention of a killer. The stakes rise after Zach is kidnapped. Herbert keeps the reader guessing as to the killer’s identity. Those with a taste for Southern gothic will be satisfied. Agent: Ann Leslie Tuttle, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Feb.)